Correctional psychology

Correctional psychology is an area of psychology that focuses on applying psychology to a correctional setting. According to researcher Michael Decaire, "The correctional psychologist's primary mission is to assist in offender rehabilitation and reintegration." The correctional psychologist’s primary mission is to assist in offender rehabilitation and reintegration. Additionally, the psychologist enhances staff and inmate safety by promoting a healthy institutional environment (Hawk, 1997). The correctional psychologist clearly has varied responsibilities. Their primary focus is their application of direct psychological services with inmates, evaluation of the prison population, inmate management, release evaluation and recommendations. While correctional has become a highly popular sub-discipline of psychology, it is also riddled with unique ethical dilemmas and conflicts (Van Voorhis & Spencer, 1999). Unfortunately, many of the ethical dilemmas within correctional psychology appear to be far from successful resolution. There is virtually no recent academic literature concerning the ethical problems in corrections, and even fewer recommendations on how one should proceed when faced with such problems (Weinberger & Sreenivasan, 1994). The ethical guidelines that govern psychological practice are equally unhelpful (American Psychological Association, 1992; Canadian Psychological Association, 1991).

References

Hawk, K. M. (1997). Personal reflections on a career in correctional psychology. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 28(4), 335-337.

Van Voorhis, P. & Spencer, K. (1999). When programs "don’t work" with everyone: Planning for differences among correctional clients. Corrections Today, 2, 38-42.

American Psychological Association (1992). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. Washington, DC: Author.

Canadian Psychological Association (1991). The Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists [On-Line]. Available: http://www.cpa.ca/ethics.html